NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - FEBRUARY 05: Assistant coach Dave Lowry of the Los Angeles Kings works the bench against the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center on February 05, 2019 in Newark, New Jersey. The Kings defeated the Devils 5-1. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)Photo: Getty Images
Dave Lowry has a new, big league coaching home.
The former NHL forward who will be entering his 18th year across multiple levels behind the bench will head to the Puget Sound, named assistant coach of the Seattle Kraken on Monday.
With over a month to go until training camp, Lowry, 57, will join Dave Hakstol’s bench with the Kraken as his fourth NHL stop. He previously worked as assistant coach with the Calgary Flames, Los Angeles Kings, and Winnipeg Jets, while serving the Jets as interim head coach last season after Paul Maurice stepped down from the position on Dec. 17.
"Dave brings experience to our coaching staff,” Kraken general manager Ron Francis said in a team statement.
“He had a long and successful NHL playing career and has significant coaching experience at the NHL and junior ranks.”
The Kraken added Lowry to the staff as a new figure set to work alongside current assistant coaches Jay Leach and Paul MacFarland, and newly hired goaltending coach Steve Briere.
Lowry is no stranger to the west coast, first as a three-year playing stint with the Vancouver Canucks then slipping in a five-year run at the major junior level as head coach with the Victoria Royals of the Western Hockey League from 2012-17. In between NHL coaching stops, Lowry has furnished a career .645 percentage, 303-155-37 record, and a pair of 50-win seasons as head coach in the WHL with Victoria, Calgary, and Brandon.
The Sudbury, Ontario native spent the previous two seasons on the Jets bench, first named assistant coach before the pandemic shortened 2021 campaign and emerging from his time in Winnipeg with a 26-22-6 record after taking over for Maurice, shortly before Christmas.
It was at that time Lowry shared one of his biggest coaching influences, Hall of Famer Roger Neilson.
“I was fortunate enough to play for him in Florida and the biggest thing that I always took away was the care and respect he had for his players and how he wanted to create that family environment,” said Lowry on Dec. 18 to the Winnipeg media.
It was Neilson who laid the foundation to help Lowry and the Florida Panthers shatter expectations in just their third season as an NHL franchise. Though Neilson left after two years, the core of the Panthers along with Lowry, blitzed their way to the Stanley Cup Final in their first trip to the playoffs, before losing in four games to the Colorado Avalanche.
Lowry suited up for 1,084 career NHL games as a left winger for the Canucks, St. Louis Blues, Panthers, San Jose Sharks, and Calgary Flames, helping the Flames and Panthers each make a run to the Stanley Cup Final before his playing retirement in 2004.
Lowry was not retained after the Jets missed the playoffs last season, for the first time since 2016-17.